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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFBAIR8. 59 Chineman. To illustrate what a hold the opium habit has on some of them, a young boy, some 16 or 17 years of age, oame to me and asked me to get him eome opium pills; he said thst the Chinamen left wonld not sell any opium, and he could not stop it so suddenly. Same of them made threats against the two Indian witnesses, ' saying they knew they would die if not able to get apinm. * " I remained at Hawthorne some time after the arrest of the Chinamen; visited their houses several times each day, md am thoroughlyaatisfied that the Indian can not boy liqnor there now, and believe that the good results obtained will last for some time to come, the Chinamen being- f n l.l ~aw a re of the risk thevrm. When I reached Hmvthorne Indiana oould be seen going to and coming from Chinatown in droves, and after the arrest I failed to find any in the Chinmen's houses. There are several people at Hawthorne who are now interested in breaking up this evil, and have promised me that should the sale of liqnor to Indians start afresh they will immediately notify Soperintendent Meed. * * * I went fromaawthorne to Yerrington, whioh is some 70 miles by rail and 14 miles by stage. There I found only one Chinese house, and I found that the news of what had been done a t Hawthorne had reached there and conseanentlr had ~ u a, tst or, to the ahnse there. I was known before I was in the town long, and understand that the Chinamen at Hawthorne had warned their people in all the towns to stop aelling liquor tqlndians, having given them a description of me. I remained several days, being there Sunday, whioh is the day the Indians come to the town in great nam-bers to have their good time. I spent the entire day among them and went through the Chinamen's houses 8. number of times during the day and at night, and am fnllp convinced that no whisky was sold. The majority of people st Yerringtan are anxious thst the sale of liquor to Indiana be stopped, which is due to a soare they hsd resulting from a white man killing an Indinn, whisky baing at the bottom of the trouble. The whits man is now serving e thirty-yeds sentenoe, and sinoe this murder I am informed that the Indiand only means of proouringliqoor has been from the Chinamen, the white men being afraid to rnn the riak. There seemingly has been very little attempt on the part of the Federal offloem to stop this ahuse in the State, there being only nine offenders sent to the penitentiary in the paot year. Ivisited the town of Lovelooks and snooeeded in gathering evidsnoe enough to warrant the arrest of a Chinaman who, I am informed, has been making a business of selling liquor to Indians for several years. The constable here tells me he has been trying for a year or more to oatoh this man, and seemed to be muoh pleased that the town was st laat rid of him. I ~ p e n ste veral day8 a t Carson City and a t Reno, hut as these oitieaarefreqnented almost exclusively by the Washoes and they, having no tribal relations, not being wards of theGovernment, the sale of liquor to this tribe can only hestopped by the State authorities, the Government having no jnrisdiotian. There ares great many Chinmuen in these two cities and the Washoe Indianoan and does get liqnor whenever he has money and wants it. The State anthorities arrest them every now and then, but as the offendee only reeeivee a sentence of thirty or sixty days in jail, and being able to get his opium while in jail, this, of cour~e, does not and never will scoompliah any good results. It is to be regretted that something om not he done to right this wrong. As the Pah Ute Indian oooasionally viaits the above-mentioned oitiea, and being anxious to ehanst everymeans to accomplish something there, I visited the county jails, thinking I might find one there for drunkenness, with a view of making an example of the offender, hnt did not. |